Louis Gabriel Suchet

Louis-Gabriel Suchet (2 March 1770-3 January 1826) was one of Napoleon Bonaparte's most brilliant generals and a Marshal of France.

Biography
Suchet was a silk manufacturer in Lyon until he joined the cavalry in 1792 and served at the Siege of Toulon in 1793. He took General Charles O'Hara, the British commander, prisoner during the engagement, and later served in the Italian Campaign in 1796. He was wounded at Cerea on 11 October, and he took part in the Battle of Marengo in 1800. From 1805 to 1807 he fought against the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians in the Europe Campaign of Emperor Napoleon I of France and he transferred to the Peninsular War in 1808. Suchet soundly defeated Joaquin Blake y Joyes at the Battle of Maria in 1809 and Henry Joseph O'Donnell at Lleida. In 1812 he captured Valencia, and took part in the defensive campaign of 1814.

When Napoleon was defeated he was made a peer by Louis XVIII of France but because he joined Napoleon in the Seventh Coalition of 1815, he was stripped of peerage and died in 1826.